SNRS<----------DOCTOR IS A PAID TOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & a Scumbag Shareholder!!!! ( OMMISSION KILLS THIS STOCK!!!! )
SELL SHORT 1000% @ all levels above a penny!!
Sunrise Backers Agree: It's the Technology
By Jesse Eisinger
Senior Writer
10/26/99 4:16 PM ET
"Snores," as the shorts call Sunrise (SNRS:Nasdaq), after its ticker symbol -- a moniker akin to calling an obese man "slim" -- is anything but boring.
The company Monday issued a press release saying that "world-renowned ophthalmologist Charles D. Kelman" had used the procedure and likes it, likes Sunrise and is an all-around good guy. In fact, the company said Kelman was recently named one of the "Ten Most Influential Ophthalmologists of the 20th Century by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery." The History Channel surely will run a special in conjunction with the publication of that list, astute counterprogramming to ESPN's top sports figures of the century.
See Also
Suddenly, Sunrise Appears Glorious Again -- to the Longs and the Shorts
The Snores press release left something out, however. Turns out that in addition to being world-renowned, Doc Kelman has some business experience. He is known on Wall Street as having started a joint venture in 1989 with Aura Systems to develop a procedure to remove cataract tissue using magnetic principles.
Now, this was no moneymaker. Aura, an always unprofitable technology dreamer and dabbler, was delisted in July. The Nasdaq halted trading in the stock in June after the company couldn't pay its auditors to complete its annual report, according to the Los Angeles Times. In January, the company confirmed that the SEC was investigating its accounting and that Aura had received a subpoena from the agency. It is the second SEC investigation of Aura this decade.
Neither Aura nor Sunrise returned calls seeking comment.
Kelman, in an interview, says the Sunrise method has worked well since he underwent the procedure last week. He says he picked the Sunrise procedure because it is noninvasive, unlike the competing Lasik technique.
Kelman is a Sunrise stock owner, like many of the ophthalmologist consultants to the company. He says he owns about 20,000 shares, having bought some just before he had the procedure done. He isn't currently on Sunrise's payroll, but says, "I will become a paid consultant now."
As for the Aura Systems joint venture, he maintains that Aura did a good job. "From a business standpoint, no," it was not a success, he says. "But from a technology standpoint, it was highly successful."
Aesop might say: Doctors should stick with their day jobs.
Suddenly, Sunrise Appears Glorious Again -- to the Longs and the Shorts
By Jesse Eisinger
Senior Writer
10/26/99 4:17 PM ET
What a story of true grit and entrepreneurial spirit.
Plucky Sunrise Technologies' (SNRS:Nasdaq) laser for farsightedness gets rejected by a Food and Drug Administration panel in July, largely on concerns that the laser's effect wears off over time.
But the company sticks to it. Soon enough, it gets to put out a release saying things are cool.
See Also
Sunrise Backers Agree: It's the Technology
Investors are thrilled. The longtime (and recently suffering) longs watch as the stock rises 70% over two days to close at 8 on Monday. Tuesday the revival continues as Sunrise shares rally about 12%.
And now back to our regularly scheduled reality. Other investors are gleeful as well: the shorts. They see a rare "selling opportunity"; while some people buy on the dips, these investors, who bet on a stock's decline, sell on the bursts. An analyst emails a select couple of her clients (and a reporter) Monday with one line: "See -- always another opportunity to short this stock."
Why such divergent opinions?
Depends on how you read the press release. Sunrise said on Friday that it has had "very productive meetings" with the FDA's ophthalmic division and that it "expects" its application will come up for panel review in next year's first quarter. That sounds pretty darn good. Certainly, it's ahead of bearish expectations that it would take the company 18 months to get back.
Dotting the Eyes
But the FDA hasn't filled out the agenda for any ophthalmic panel meeting in the first quarter. The FDA also doesn't comment on who will get to a panel and when. So, Sunrise simply has its own expectations. Sure, companies often say when they expect a panel, but the shorts view Sunrise as having an LBJ-like credibility gap. After all, the data presented to the panel in the first place were substantially different from what investors had seen up to that point. Sunrise officials didn't return four calls seeking comment.
What's more, having to go to the panel at all doesn't necessarily make for such a bright situation for Sunrise. The company, according to several short-sellers who talked to the company and heard its conference calls, thinks the panel was agin it and its technology, instead favoring a competitive laser technique called Lasik, which is on the market.
"The company had previously hoped to bypass the overwhelmingly negative advisory panel by appealing directly to the [FDA's] Center for Devices and Radiological Health," wrote Steve Sabba, an analyst for Sturza's Medical Research, a biotech boutique that has a sell rating and has been shorting the stock through its hedge fund arm. "Apparently, this plan was unsuccessful." (Sunrise is suing Sturza for defamation.)
In July, the panel asked for much more data. It wanted to see the results on 300 eyes treated with the Sunrise laser over two years. The panel asked for measurements taken after a patient's own focusing muscles have been paralyzed, so that the patient isn't adjusting his own vision. It wanted sex breakdowns and updated data on double vision and light sensitivity.
Thanks simply to the short period between the panel meeting and the first quarter, Sunrise is unlikely to have that amount of new data. In its release, it says it has a "substantial" increase in the number of patients followed through for two years. It plans to present statistics addressing concerns about the gradual loss of effect. But the statement mentioned no specifics.
Moreover, the company, valued at roughly $370 million in the stock market, has less than $20 million in the bank, or less than 50 cents a share, and only one -- as yet unapproved -- product. Let's not forget that it's a product that has already received a big black eye. Well, why not forget it if the stock goes up?
So, all in all, a good couple days for investors of every stripe.
|
